Chromatin and nucleosome dynamics in DNA damage and repair

Michael H. Hauer; Susan M. Gasser

doi:10.1101/gad.307702.117

Chromatin and nucleosome dynamics in DNA damage and repair

Michael H. Hauer1,2,3 and
Susan M. Gasser1,2

¹Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland;
²Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

Corresponding author: susan.gasser{at}fmi.ch

↵3 Present address: Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Center for Applied Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Chromatin is organized into higher-order structures that form subcompartments in interphase nuclei. Different categories of specialized enzymes act on chromatin and regulate its compaction and biophysical characteristics in response to physiological conditions. We present an overview of the function of chromatin structure and its dynamic changes in response to genotoxic stress, focusing on both subnuclear organization and the physical mobility of DNA. We review the requirements and mechanisms that cause chromatin relocation, enhanced mobility, and chromatin unfolding as a consequence of genotoxic lesions. An intriguing link has been established recently between enhanced chromatin dynamics and histone loss.

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Footnotes

Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.307702.117.

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